1/5AM Occult Acculturation (open)

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

It was early morning, and Nate was finally getting back to work. Well, he had been-- he had found a private client and had to take his portfolio over for inspection and a casting. He hated doing it from private clients, they could be so picky, and they always were located in the most obscure places. Tokyo was hard enough to navigate as it was, the house and building numbers were never in order and there were all kinds of sidestreets-- and this one had to be a building with no listed number, and off to the side. The interior was gorgeous, but the process of getting to it didn't make it seem worth it. He at least got the gig-- but it was still really annoying.

Of course, now he found himself in a strange area of town and tried to make his way back to the main rail station. Along the way he passed lots of curiosities, including hole-in-the-wall restaurants and little stores. One of them said Occult on a sign with chipped paint. Curious, because he always could use some more astrology books, Nathaniel took a step inside. The owner, a stern-faced man with enormous jowls, just stared at him. Waving politely, Nathaniel looked around. It was very crowded (what wasn't crowded in Japan, he thought), and rather dusty. There were no other customers at the moment, but the tables and bookcases took up enough space that it was almost claustophobic to stand there. It seemed to be one third bookstore, one third rock shop, and on third antiquities. There were all sorts of shamanic tools on the walls and lying around on tables covered by threadbare batik prints, with crystals and other things lying about.

Nathaniel went to the books first. Some looked new, others were obviously used and dated, with that typically musty book smell and yellowing pages. Most of them were in Japanese, too, though he swore he saw a few volumes in Korean, and then there was even one in German. Odd. The kanji was difficult, so he mostly flipped through, the owner's stare intensifying into a glare as one of the spines cracked a bit. Nate winced, closing the book with snap that sent up a plume of dust and shelving it.

The dust was irritating his sensitive allergies, so he stepped away from the books to poke around some of the antiquities-- or at least, so they looked. They seemed to come from around the world. He noticed a few Native American items, as well as fetishes and bundles of dried herbs. Nate picked up one, brushing off the fine layer of dust, and took a tentative sniff. Just as quickly, he dropped it, staring at it Cannabis? Well, he knew it was used in some shamanic practices, but... Poking around a bit more turned up a stash of what looked like shabu and a few other contraband substances. He knew the yakuza in Tokyo did a good business in this stuff, but to have it practically sitting out on the counter...! Even if the owner was probably convinced it was a religious right to have it.

Nate quickly set everything back down. There was no way he was getting caught in here. No way in hell. Not with that stuff.

"There's no way that's legal," he muttered to himself, backing up quickly without pausing to look behind. "Not legal. So not legal."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru was out taking an early morning walk before he had to get in to work. He liked taking walks. It allowed him good exercise and a chance to think about whatever happened to be going on in his life currently, as long as one could ignore any of the gawking people which he currently was. Walking also allowed him a chance to be outside instead of being cooped up somewhere.

This time he happened to be walking in an area of the city that he normally didn’t traverse. He hadn’t been down this way in a long long time, perhaps even before Usagi had taken over the government. It was kind of interesting to be exploring areas that he rarely ever got to see.

As he was making his way down the street, he happened to spot Nathaniel through the window of a shop. Mamoru glanced up at the sign for the shop and rose an eyebrow when he read the name. ‘Occult’ Why would Nathaniel be in a shop by that name? It was more then likely some sort of astrology thing, Nephrite had always been a stargazer.

Curiosity got the better of him and Mamoru veered into the shop, besides if nothing else it would allow him another chance to check on how Nathaniel was doing. He hadn’t had a chance to speak with him since the ball and that had been a week ago.

He made his way toward where Nate seemed to be searching through some dried herbs and stuff. However, before he reached him Nathaniel set everything he had been holding back down where he had gotten them from and backed off muttering something about not being legal.

Mamoru immediately grinned and spoke up before Nate backed into him. “You wouldn’t be getting involved in anything illegal would you Nate?”

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

Hearing a voice behind him, Nathaniel whirled around, blanching at the sight of his liege. Of all the people to come in... Why was he here, anyway? Nathaniel hadn't even noticed another customer come into the shop, small as it was, and definitely not his prince! He was very glad at this moment that Kunzite had not yet awakened, because he was sure the other Shitennou would not be happy that Nephrite had become so unobservant.

"Jesus Christ!" he swore in surprise, and then switched to Japanese again. "Sorry, that was sudden, and..." he glanced at the table warily, stepping closer to Mamoru and lowering his voice.

"Mamoru, there's several thousand credits of drugs over there. Seriously. I don't know if the college kids go down here, or if they store it, or what, but that's not just pot, though it looks like some good hash, if you know what I mean?" he grinned, but moved on. "I mean, look, I swear to God that's some crystal meth-- I mean, shabu. Or coke, but the yakuza made a deal with the police to keep out most of the heroin and coke if they could deal more meth without getting arrested for it. At least, that's what the last government did." He wasn't sure what the current one was doing, but either way it was technically illegal to have it.

"You have no idea what a find this is. The street value on this shit would be astronomical, and it's just lying here. Maybe it's that guy's--" he stuck out his thumb and raised it over his shoulder to indicate the guy at the counter who was still staring blankly at them, "--stash, or something. Hiding in plain sight? No clue. All I'm sayin' is that if we got it and took it to a karaoke bar, we'd be having an oriental Woodstock."

Nate was familiar with drugs from his life on the street, before he found Carol. He knew the terms and what it looked like, it was just a part of the environment. Actually, he wasn't entirely sure he agreed with it being illegal, though he certainly knew the damage it could cause. And the more he advanced in the modeling world, the more he realized that the supermodels were doing it too-- to stay thin, and just to be hardcore and party. It wasn't his scene, but to each their own.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru’s smile turned smug when he realized how much he had startled Nathaniel. He was just about to mirthfully chide the other man about his lack of observational skills when Nathaniel’s next words had the words dying before they were spoken. His amusement over the situation died just as quickly as he glanced warily over at table that Nathaniel had just left.

He sighed somewhat irritably. It would be just his luck to find himself in a store with such a large stash of contraband substances. Well, actually maybe he should count himself lucky. With the run of luck he had been having lately he would have expected to find himself right in the middle of the police raiding the place and thinking that both Nate and himself were involved or at the very least the press getting a hold of a story like that. No, this was actually lucky for him.

Shrugging a little, Mamoru muttered, “I haven’t been down this way in a long time and I’ve never been in this store before. I wouldn’t know if the college kids come down here, if they are just storing it here, or as you said it might be that guy’s stash. ”

Honestly Mamoru wouldn’t have really cared had it just been this one guy using the stuff. His own profession would have him worrying over the damages the man was probably causing himself, but he wouldn’t have really done anything about it unless he had been asked to do so. However, with the stuff just laying out like that anyone could get at it ... including some unsuspecting child that happened to wander in here. He couldn’t abide with that thought and so he retrieved his phone out of his pocket and growled, “Whatever the case it’s not a good situation, but it is one that’s about to remedied.”

He stepped a little further from the guy staring blankly at them from the counter and dialed the number for the police.

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

"I came in to look for astrology books, I didn't know it would also be a head shop," Nate muttered, since Mamoru had sighed in irritation.

"Wha-what?" Nate stared in astonishment as Mamoru whipped out his phone and started dialing, saying the situation was about to be 'remedied'. What did he think he was doing?!

Nate quickly reached out and tried to lower Mamoru's arm. "What are you doing?" he hissed under his breath. "C'mon." He started to head out. There was no way his liege was going to call the cops standing right next to the guy! What if he was yakuza?

"You can't seriously be calling the cops. They're dirty anyway," Nate said dismissively. "Besides, it's none of our business what he's doing or who he sells it to. Let's just leave."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru nodded absently when Nate said that he had come in looking for astrology books. That was what he had thought in the first place. However, most of his attention was now on the current situation and so he didn’t really respond.

He frowned in aggravation when Nate pushed his arm down before he could finish dialing the number for the police. What did he mean what was he doing? Hadn’t he already made it clear what he was going to do, remedy the situation and all that. “I think it was a little obvious what I was planning on doing Nate.”

Mamoru followed Nate out of the store, still holding his phone but not using it at the moment. “Why shouldn’t I call the cops? Some of them might be dirty and they aren’t very intelligent when it comes to knowing who starts a fight in a bar or not, but it’s still their job to take care of things like this. We can’t just ignore it.”

He nodded a little in agreement. “It’s not our business what he’s doing, but Nate you walked into this store not suspecting anything. Other people could do the same thing, what if a kid walked in and bought that stuff without realizing what it was. They could either get into serious trouble or worse use the stuff and get hooked on it. I can’t just walk away and pretend I didn’t see it.”

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

"Sorry. In America 'what do you think you're doing?' really means 'that's a very bad idea.'" Nate replied, managing not to roll his eyes at Mamoru's response.

"Their job," Nate snorted. Seriously, what did Mamoru have in his head? All cops were dirty, the whole world over. The ones that weren't dirty when they came in were eventually corrupted by the system. Japanese police were really bad, too. "C'mon, why would you even put yourself in any situation with police? There's no need to be such a Dudley Do-Right, Mamoru. If the police want to get it, they can come do it themselves."

He shook his head when Mamoru went off about some bleeding-heart story of kids get addicted, or whatever. "Yeah, but that's still none of our business and anyway, I doubt little kids are just going to wander in here. It's not like there's a sign for free candy posted outside the door. Besides, what if this guy is yakuza? You really want the Japanese mob out for you?"

Nate was slightly annoyed. Mamoru just didn't get it. He didn't know how these things worked, he had been sheltered from it, or something. Cops were dirty, and drugs were proliferate on the black market, and even if they were all cleared out, there would be plenty to take its place later, and the guy would go back to it once he got out of jail.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru simply stared at Nathaniel for a long moment before saying, “The police might not know that it’s here so even if they wanted to get it they wouldn’t be able to find it. I’m not being a Dudley Do-Right Nate, I’m only doing what I believe is the right thing. Like I said, some cops might be dirty but not all of them are. I’m certain there are some very dedicated officers out there.”

He shook his head and snapped just a little aggravated, “It doesn’t matter if little kids actually come in here or not. The point is they could and if I leave this stuff here without reporting to someone, it becomes my business. Whether or not the police actually come here and do their job is not the point, the point is it’s our responsibility to report it to them.”

Mamoru was about to raise the phone once again to make the call when Nate asked about the yakuza. He glanced back over at his comrade curiously for a moment before saying, “No of course I don’t want the mob to be out for me, but I still feel that we should do the right thing.”

He waved his hand in frustration as he added, “I can’t continue to try and court Usagi, the head of the government, and not take care of things like this when I see them. Do you really think she would just ignore it if she had come across it? How do you think she'd feel if she found out that I just walked away from a responsibility like this?”

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

"Well, like you said, it's their job, so they can figure it out themselves," Nate said. Why was this concept of calling the police being a bad idea so complicated for Mamoru to handle? "You are being a Dudley Do-Right. You're being obstinately noble about something that you have no need to be. And obviously you haven't been around enough cops, because they're definitely all dirty. I'm trying to prevent you from having to face that unpleasant truth personally."

And then he kept going on and on and on about it being their responsibility, and all of this moral mumbo jumbo that sounded nice in the cool morning air, but in reality was very impractical.

"Mamoru. Think pragmatically here for a moment. Do you really want to take all the time out of your day to not only inconvenience yourself but potentially jeopardize your safety? There's tons of drugs out there, buddy, if we bust this guy they'll get it somewhere else. It'd be a drop in a bucket. A nice gesture, but not worth it."

Nate had to fight from rolling his eyes as Mamoru brought up the Queen. That selfish twit? He knew Mamoru loved Serenity-- but she was not a good ruler. That head of the government should be him. If Mamoru was king, then Nate wouldn't have to worry about things like the police or the yakuza. He would have done something about it, because Mamoru had both ethics and a spine. Serenity had hope, which sounded nice when she was making speeches, but he wasn't seeing it reflected in policy. Truth be told, Nate didn't follow current events all that much, and probably couldn't definitively spell out much of the policies of Serenity's administration, but he knew enough to know it wasn't as good as it should be. He mentally reminded himself to actually brush up on some of that policy, before speaking up.

"Serenity?" Nate said, doing his best to keep the mistrustful drone out of his voice. Badmouthing Serenity in the past life or the present one would never be a good way to have a civil conversation with Endymion. "She probably has something to do with it being here. If she hadn't made these things illegal, then there wouldn't even be a problem. It could be regulated, instead she just created more crime. Heck, if it was legal, she could tax the hell out of it." So much for cleaning up the streets and clearing out corruption, he thought to himself, but didn't dare voice those thoughts aloud. "Leave it there, you'll be doing her a favor, she just won't know it. That's idealism for you."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Cops are only human Nate, they can’t know everything. I doubt they even know this shop exists.” Mamoru was becoming more then just a little aggravated. He was beginning to get really annoyed with the situation. Why was it so hard for Nate to understand that calling the police was the right thing to do?

“I do have a need to be noble about this. I already explained why. Those reasons are valid, at least to me. As for the rest of what you said, I don’t need you to rescue me from any unpleasant truths. I’m not a delicate little princeling that doesn’t know how to handle the real world. I think I can handle facing whatever kind of ugly truths are out there.”

He sighed in frustration once more before adding, “At any rate, I really don’t believe that all cops are dirty. They can’t be. There has to be some dedicated officers out there, maybe some are tainted a bit but I’m sure they all try to do their jobs to the best of the abilities. I had a college friend that became an officer. Are you trying to tell me that she’s a dirty cop? I wouldn’t believe it, she was very dedicated to what she wanted to be.”

Mamoru was smart enough to know that Nathaniel was right about this only being a drop in the bucket. He was aware that there were tons of drugs out there on the street all over the world, but that didn’t take away from the fact that he really believed that calling the police on this one guy was the right thing to do. He obviously couldn’t be everywhere taking care of problems like these, but if he took care of this one it would be one less drug problem to worry about.

There was some small part of him that realized he hadn’t cared all that much a few moments before in the shop. He had only been going to call out of some moral obligation he had felt, but the more this conversation went on the more determined he was to call. He was being stubborn for the sole sake of being stubborn about something he wanted to do.

“Even if what you say is true Nate, I’d still call. I don’t want to be tied up here all afternoon, nor do I want to put myself in any unnecessary danger. It’s not like I woke up this morning wondering how I could go about doing just that, but that doesn’t take away from the idea that we have a moral obligation to report this guy. It might not help the problem in the long run, but it would get this guy off the street at least for a little while. I don’t doubt that people would only go elsewhere to get what they wanted, but Nate if everyone who saw this kind of thing actually did something about it then that drop in the bucket would soon be full before you knew it.”

Mamoru glanced suspiciously toward Nathaniel when he started talking about Serenity. He couldn’t be sure, but there was something in the tone of Nate’s voice that he didn’t particularly like hearing. He didn’t have long to worry over it though because Nate’s next words were most definitely something he didn’t like hearing, sparking that annoyance he had been feeling into the beginnings of anger.

He had always been protective of Serenity in this life and the last. He could also be irritable and somewhat irrationally obstinate when people were saying things about her that he felt were unfair to say. Mamoru struggled hard to keep the anger out of his tone, after all he was suppose to be working on his temper.

Although he was able to do a fairly good job at keeping his tone even, Mamoru wasn’t able to keep the glint of irritation out of his gaze as he said, “It’s absurd to believe that this is Usagi’s fault. She can’t help that people like that guy in there exist. That stuff was illegal before she ever took over the government. It’s only been a year Nate. She can’t take care of everything at once.”

Mamoru shook his head stubbornly when Nathaniel said that to leave it there would be a favor to Usagi but that she wouldn’t know it. This time he couldn’t keep the irritation out of his tone as he snapped, “I promised I wouldn’t keep things from her ever again. Keeping secrets is what caused the problems between us in the first place. I won’t do it again, nor will I do something I know good and well she wouldn’t like.”

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

Nate gritted his teeth, but didn't speak when Mamoru went off indignantly about not being some delicate princeling that couldn't handle the real world. In Nate's opinion, that was exactly how Mamoru was behaving. And then he went on to talk about some college friend, and how not all cops were dirty-- yeah, he definitely needed a rude awakening. Maybe this experience would be good for him. Maybe he would see just how crazy things could be, and how it was good to stay as far away from law enforcement as possible. Mamoru, whether he was realized it or not-- was privileged. He went to college, he rubbed noses with people like future police officers. Of course he'd be blind to the real nature of the system. It didn't make it any less aggravating. If he saw what really went on...

Well, the problem was that Nate was a Shitennou and it was his job to protect Mamoru, and he didn't want to expose him to the police, no matter how much moral authority his deluded prince was ascribing them. Unfortunately, it was beginning to look like he didn't have much of a choice. Nate debated calling Hiroki-- maybe he could get it-- but thought it would probably only piss off Mamoru more.

He really did have to roll his eyes when Mamoru began spouting off such philosophical originals such as: 'if everyone helped out, we could really make a difference in the world!' Maybe Serenity was beginning to rub off on him. He'd seen cupcakes with less sweetness and light than that illogical banality. Nate snorted. "C'mon. Save it for the Dalai Lama. You should be thinking of your own wellbeing first and foremost, but if you want to do it just to prove you can, whatever, I can't stop you from calling the coppers and then singing Kumbayah while holding the hands of the boys in blue."

Nate shifted his weight uneasily as Mamoru began to reply to his remarks, however tempered, about the Queen. He knew he should have kept his mouth shut on this. Endymion couldn't take any criticism of her, even if it was well deserved. If Serenity couldn't do her job in a year, there was no reason to believe she could do it in all the years following. She inherited many laws, but she had to power to choose which to carry over, and which to leave behind. And she made the wrong choice. It was definitely her responsibility. But no use trying to get Mamoru to see it that way-- love was blind, and all.

He raised in hands in surrender as Mamoru snapped at him. "Go what you must." It just wasn't fair to the rest of them that Mamoru was this whipped, already. Nate resented the Queen for making him so irrational, so unable to see the pragmatic side instead of the principled one. It echoed feelings held long ago in the Silver Millenium. Some things just did not change.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru glared in annoyance at Nate when he didn’t say anything in response to the princeling comment. He wasn’t stupid, Nate would have said something if he didn’t believe that. “There is nothing wrong with calling the cops Nate. I’m not doing it to prove I can, I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do and if you’d only think about it you would know it.”

He ignored that small little voice of reason that said that was the motivation behind him insisting that it was the right thing to do. If Nate had dropped the subject and agreed with him, Mamoru might have let the whole thing go. Only he hadn’t, Nate had continued pestering him and Mamoru was too stubborn to let it go now. Besides, Mamoru had his pride to worry about. If Nate was going to stand there and think of him as some little protected prince that couldn’t handle the real world Mamoru was going to show him that he could. Even if that meant proving Nate right by doing something just to prove he could.

Mamoru glare only intensified when Nate threw his hands up in surrender. However, instead of saying anything he simply picked up his phone again and dialed the number for the police.

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

Nate's lips thinned to a line, but he knew better than to argue. Convention of his past life told him not to dare argue more than was necessary with his prince, who obviously knew what he was doing.

Only that Mamoru in this life, didn't. Maybe if he had argued more with Endymion before, they wouldn't have to have present lives. Back in the US people were fond of saying that the highest form of patriotism was dissent, maybe there was something to it. Maybe he start dissenting just a bit more, especially when one of Mamoru's volunteered reasons for doing this at all involved Serenity. That was sure to lead to disaster. It almost always did.

Nate let out an exasperated sigh as Mamoru just stood there and dialed! "What the fuck? Come on!" He grabbed Mamoru's arm (this time choosing the one not holding the phone), and tried to drag him further down the street. "Don't just stand there in front of the store and do it with your back turned to the guy!! And make it quick, just say you have a tip and then hang up, no statements, if they're at all competent they can come here and figure things out themselves!"

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru noticed Nate wasn’t exactly happy, but he seemed to be willing to drop the argument. Well good, he had been really starting to get annoyed with the conversation. Again Mamoru ignored that stubborn little voice of reason that said he himself should have backed down because Nathaniel just might know what he was talking about. Calling the police was the right thing to do ...

He started in surprise at Nate’s exclamation before suddenly attempting to drag him down the street. Mamoru would have normally refused to be dragged further down the street, he had his pride after all. However, because he hadn’t been expecting it Nate was successful in dragging him for a few steps before Mamoru jerked away from his friend.

Mamoru glared sharply at Nate and growled, “You could have just said ‘let’s move over here’ you know. I would have followed you.” He was about to continue when the police finally answered the phone.

Tossing another glare at his friend, Mamoru obstinately refused to follow the other man’s advice and told the officer on the line, “This is Chiba Mamoru. My friend and I were visiting a store called the Occult and found several thousand credits of drugs just laying around on the shelves.”

Mamoru proceeded to give his statement, telling the officer on the line everything that he needed to know. That annoying inner voice of reason continued to taunt him all the while with the fact that he was very much acting like a petulant school boy doing something just to annoy Nate. This only served to irritate him further because he knew very well that if Nate hadn’t just said to leave a tip and not give a statement he probably wouldn’t be doing the very opposite right now.

Well that wasn’t exactly true. There was a small part of him that knew it really had nothing to do with Nate at all. Nate was just a convenient target to blame. There was also the fact that this was bound to wind up being a story the press would pick up. Mamoru was under the opinion that a story like this might just possibly make everyone forget about all the other stories in the paper.

Eventually he hung up the phone and said blandly, “The police are on the way now ...”

[Nathaniel Bernhardt]

"No you wouldn't have followed me, you'd do just the opposite," Nate retorted. Obviously Mamoru's reason had degraded to a point where he would either have to physically get him to do things, or start using reverse psychology.

He scowled as Mamoru insisted on giving his name first thing. Why bother to have Shitennou at all if Endymion wouldn't ever listen to him when he most needed to be listened to? He just stared at the other man, shaking his head when Mamoru hung up.

"Well that's brilliant. You'll spend the next five hours giving statements to several different detectives and officers, probably downtown, and the paparazzi and reporters listen in on police radio beats, so they'll be showing up any minute now. Don't come crying to me when some deputy comes in to your work and serves you a subpoena to appear as a witness in this case, and spend the better part of the next year or some in a long dragged out trial. You better hope he takes a plea bargain, because the only thing worse than jury duty is being a witness. Mamoru, I respect you, and all, but you really do have a massive ego, man."